goodness, and not
only appreciate but admire the great actor, the great painter, the
great sculptor, the marvelous singer. In other words, I admire
all people who tend to make this life richer, who give an additional
thought to this poor world.

_Question_. Do you think this liberal movement, favoring the better
class of plays, inaugurated by the Rev. Dr. Abbott, will tend to
soften the sentiment of the orthodox churches against the stage?

_Answer_. I have not read what Dr. Abbott has written on this
subject. From your statement of his position, I think he entertains
quite a sensible view, and, when we take into consideration that
he is a minister, a miraculously sensible view. It is not the
business of the dramatist, the actor, the painter or the sculptor
to teach what the church calls morality. The dramatist and the
actor ought to be truthful, ought to be natural--that is to say,
truthfully and naturally artistic. He should present pictures of
life properly chosen, artistically constructed; an exhibition of
emotions truthfully done, artistically done. If vice is presented
naturally, no one will fall in love with vice. If the better
qualities of the human heart are presented naturally, no one can
fail to fall in love with them. But they need not be presented
for that purpose. The object of the artist is to present truthfully
and artistically. He is not a Sunday school teacher. He is not
to have the moral effect eternally in his mind. It is enough for
him to be truly artistic. Because, as I have said, a great many
times, the greatest good is done by indirection. For instance, a
man lives a good, noble, honest and lofty life. The value of that
life would be destroyed if he kept calling attention to it--if he
said to all who met him, "Look at me!" he would become intolerable.
The truly artistic speaks of perfection; that is to say, of harmony,
not only of conduct, but of harmony and proportion in everything.
The pulpit is always afraid of the passions, and really imagines
that it has some influence on men and women, keeping them in the
path of virtue. No greater mistake was ever made. Eternally
talking and harping on that one subject, in my judgment, does harm.
Forever keeping it in the mind by reading passages from the Bible,
by talking about the "corruption of the human heart," of the "power
of temptation," of the scarcity of virtue, of the plentifulness of
vice--all these platitudes tend to produ